Diurnal blood pressure changes.

Abstract

The definition of diurnal blood pressure changes varies widely, which can be confusing. Short-term blood pressure variability during a 24-h period and the dipping status of diurnal blood pressure can be captured by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, and these metrics are reported to have prognostic significance for cardiovascular complications. Morning blood pressure surge also indicates this risk, but its effect may be limited to populations with specific conditions. Meanwhile, the combined use of conventional office blood pressure and out-of-office blood pressure allows us to identify people with white-coat and masked hypertension. Current home devices can measure nocturnal blood pressure during sleep more conveniently than ambulatory monitoring; however, we should pay attention to blood pressure measurement conditions regardless of whether they are in a home, ambulatory, or office setting. The relatively poor reproducibility of diurnal blood pressure changes, including the nocturnal fall of blood pressure, is another underestimated issue to be addressed. Although information on diurnal blood pressure changes is expected to be used more effectively in the future, we should also keep in mind that blood pressure levels have remained central to the primary and secondary prevention of blood pressure-related cardiovascular diseases in clinical practice.